Understanding Dual Career Couples

Abstract

The increasing number of clients seeking to maintain a dual career life‐style has increased the need for counselors to educate themselves to the unqiue set of concerns, needs, and characteristics particular to dual career partners and their families. This article presents an overview of the published literature delineating the variables associated with this life‐style, including the numerous benefits or incentives, the common conflicts and stressors, and the personality dynamics shared by these men and women. In addition, the article will describe dysfunctional coping strategies as well as adaptive strategies employed by individuals attempting to manage the coupling of both career and family.

Les aspects professionnels et le moment d’une première maternité

“…Il suffit de mentionner Aubert (1979), Dufort (1985), Entwisle et Doering (1981), Jimenez (1978), Parker, Peltier et Wolleat (1981), Shreve (1982) et Stewart (1977. À ce sujet, un des principaux résultats de notre étude est la reconnaissance toujours actuelle de la part des femmes d'une incompatibilité carrière/famille, et ce, autant chez les hâtives que chez les tardives.…”

Coupling and Careers: A Workshop for Dual Career Couples at the Launching Stage

“…Rapoport and Rapoport (1971;1977), interviewing both dual-career and dual-working couples, reported a significant number of these couples emphasizing the need for partners to possess effective interpersonal skills so that communication and rapport were sharpened and the decision-making process was made more efficient and equitable. Parker, Peltier, and Wolleat (1981), in their review of essential dual-career coping elements, also discussed the need for the dual-career couple to communicate feelings honestly, and to develop a basic sense of trust, respect, and esteem.…”

“…Lawe and Lawe (1980) describe the use of conflict resolution techniques. Hall and Hall (1979) and Parker et al (1981) describe joint problem-solving techniques used in resolving such inevitable differences. Given the increased amount of shared turf characterizing most dual-career relationships, the need for effective joint decisioning techniques (as Scanzoni and FOX, 1980, term this process) seems to be a very prominent one necessary for the everyday workings of a dual-career relationship.…”

“…Most of the literature, in both the counseling and family relations fields, has centered on reporting the stresses, personal characteristics, and variably successful methods of coping used by participants of this lifestyle. Several articles have appeared describing clinical interventions with troubled-dual careerists (Parker, Peltier, & Wolleat, 1981;Rice, 1979), and a number of popularized guides proferring solutions of "how to cope with it all" are now available to the layman (Hall & Hall, 1979;Shaevitz & Shaevitz, 1980). Although such books are helpful in shedding light upon the issues dual careerists experience, they frequently appear both intimidating and discouraging to young couples in terms of the volume and scope of the issues and stresses reported.…”

The Counselor's Use of the Paradoxical Procedure in Family Therapy

“…Counselors have recently increased their interest in family dynamics and family therapy, for example, dual career marriages (Maples, 1981;Parker, Peltier, & Wolleat, 1981), divorce (Bernard, 1981;Putney, 1981;Schwebel, Moreland, Steinkohl, Lentz, & Steward, 1982), stepfamilies (Prosen & Farmer, 1982, families with an exceptional child (Opirhory & Peters, 1982), and marriage and family training in counselor education (Piercy & Hovestadt, 1980). Remarks in this article are offered in order that counselors might have a framework from which to use paradoxical interventions, particularly within a systems approach to family therapy.…”